Health care needs cure, not bandage
Emily Booker
Issue date: 9/25/09 Section: Opinion
How sick are you of hearing about health care?
The government spent hours (and thousands of pages) writing and rewriting proposal after proposal for a national health care plan. Tea party organizers spent the summer shooting down each proposal. Joe Wilson spent a few seconds of national TV coverage to call Obama a liar when it comes to health care reform.
It seems everyone has an opinion on the topic. And they should, since being healthy is a pretty basic desire.
Health care need a prescribed cure, not just a bandage with "cheap insurance" written on it.
It's the tricky part between wanting affordable and accessible health care and actually getting it that is causing so much pain.
Reforming insurance and having a government option isn't the antidote.
Those supporting healthcare insurance reform want a law under which every American would have health insurance.
But health insurance reform does not mean medical care is suddenly available. Insurance offsets the cost of various treatments and medications, but it does not mean free care.
Of all bankruptcies filed in 2007, 62 percent were linked to medical expenses, and nearly 80 percent of those had health insurance, according to the National Coalition on Health Care.
I'm not saying health insurance isn't necessary. It's tremendously helpful in offsetting costs and paying for expensive procedures. But insurance for all does not mean affordable care for all. It just means the government thinks throwing money at a problem will fix it.
No one has been clear on exactly what this health care reform or the government option insurance will entail. Without specifics on what and how this reform will take place, no one can begin to explain how the country is supposed to pay for this.
National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion this year. That's $2.5 trillion spent on the government health care programs currently in place, not a newer, bigger health care plan.
Health care reform, as proposed, is too broad and too expensive. Last I heard, the country didn't have trillions of dollars to throw around, and I already have enough of my paycheck taken for Medicare/Medicaid.
It's not economically feasible to try to pay for everyone's healthcare, not with the system as it is.
The best solution would be to use the money already going into health care to reduce basic health care and prescription costs to benefit all Americans.
The government spent hours (and thousands of pages) writing and rewriting proposal after proposal for a national health care plan. Tea party organizers spent the summer shooting down each proposal. Joe Wilson spent a few seconds of national TV coverage to call Obama a liar when it comes to health care reform.
It seems everyone has an opinion on the topic. And they should, since being healthy is a pretty basic desire.
Health care need a prescribed cure, not just a bandage with "cheap insurance" written on it.
It's the tricky part between wanting affordable and accessible health care and actually getting it that is causing so much pain.
Reforming insurance and having a government option isn't the antidote.
Those supporting healthcare insurance reform want a law under which every American would have health insurance.
But health insurance reform does not mean medical care is suddenly available. Insurance offsets the cost of various treatments and medications, but it does not mean free care.
Of all bankruptcies filed in 2007, 62 percent were linked to medical expenses, and nearly 80 percent of those had health insurance, according to the National Coalition on Health Care.
I'm not saying health insurance isn't necessary. It's tremendously helpful in offsetting costs and paying for expensive procedures. But insurance for all does not mean affordable care for all. It just means the government thinks throwing money at a problem will fix it.
No one has been clear on exactly what this health care reform or the government option insurance will entail. Without specifics on what and how this reform will take place, no one can begin to explain how the country is supposed to pay for this.
National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion this year. That's $2.5 trillion spent on the government health care programs currently in place, not a newer, bigger health care plan.
Health care reform, as proposed, is too broad and too expensive. Last I heard, the country didn't have trillions of dollars to throw around, and I already have enough of my paycheck taken for Medicare/Medicaid.
It's not economically feasible to try to pay for everyone's healthcare, not with the system as it is.
The best solution would be to use the money already going into health care to reduce basic health care and prescription costs to benefit all Americans.
The Oracle encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The Oracle also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Web Editor at wahousley21@tntech.edu.
Be the first to comment on this story